DARPA has expanded a program to give infantry squads more capabilities, including better sensors and navigation.
The agency has just launched the Squad X Experimentation project to enhance the capabilities of Army and Marine infantry squads, such as cyber situational awareness, according to a DARPA news release.
"Modern military engagements increasingly take place in complex and uncertain battlefield conditions where attacks can come from multiple directions at once, and in the electromagnetic spectrum and cyber domains as well," DARPA said. "U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps dismounted infantry squads, however, have been unable to take full advantage of some highly effective multi-domain defensive and offensive capabilities that vehicle-assigned forces currently enjoy — in large part because many of the relevant technologies are too heavy and cumbersome for individual soldiers and Marines to carry or too difficult to use under demanding field conditions."
Squad X Experimentation will utilize off-the-shelf technologies as well as new capabilities being developed by DARPA's Squad X Core Technologies program, which is focusing on boosting the power of infantry squads through precision engagement, non-kinetic engagement, squad sensing and squad autonomy.
